Large area flat bed imagers are known in the art. These devices comprise part of an imaging system and are used to generate high quality printing plates or film for color or black and white printing. A device such as the model LE 55 direct plate imager offered by The Gerber Systems Corporation, the assignee of the present invention, includes an automated flat bed for exposing film or plates with a digitized image. An imager typically scans a substrate with a laser beam, selectively exposing pixels to create the image. The signals needed to drive the imager are generated with a raster image processor such as a "Sun" brand workstation or its equivalent. The digitized signals are then presented to the imager to expose the film.
However, known imaging systems are configured to image data in a continuous serial stream at high rates, while raster image processors can generate data at slower data rates in the case of highly complex images and in different formats. Consequently, it is not possible, in some cases, to generate the raster image signals and directly image the signals unto a substrate. It would be advantages to have a device which would buffer the image signals as they are generated by the raster image processor, thereby allowing for direct and independent processing by the imager to expose a substrate. The present buffer is drawn towards such an invention.